I’ve predicted that a long period of deflation in the Western world would end with a Fed taper, rate hikes and quantitative tightening.
That’s clearly in play now, and the deregulation of America’s thousands of small banks is perhaps the most exciting event taking place on this new “inflationary frontier”. Because of these powerful monetary trends, I’ve predicted big problems ahead for Wall Street and somewhat better times for Main Street.
Having said, that, I think investors would be making aWednesday, December 13, 2017

The precious metals industry uses the troy ounce as its basic unit of measure, even in countries who have adopted the metric system. A troy ounce is heavier than the more common avoirdupois ounce. While there is a difference between a troy ounce and an ounce, the precious metals industry often uses “ounce” and the abbreviation “oz” rather than “troy ounce” and “ozt”. As a result, when you see “ounce” and “oz” used in the context of precious metals, assume the reference is to troy ounces. When reWednesday, November 29, 2017

A Monday Morning Musing from Mickey the Mercenary Geologist"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefiTuesday, November 21, 2017

The study of financial crises is as old as the economics discipline itself. One of the most prominent theorists of financial crises ever to hold a senior Federal Reserve policy position was John Exter, vice-president of the New York Federal Reserve during the 1950s. Several years ago I co-wrote a series of essays on Exter’s theories together with his sonin- law, Barry Downs. In this paper, building on Exter’s work, including his eponymous ‘pyramid’, I introduce a new ‘hourglass’ framework for unFriday, November 17, 2017

Via The Daily Bell
223 years ago today, “The Dreadful Night” occurred in Western Pennsylvania, after an uprising called The Whiskey Rebellion.
The United States was brand new. Soldiers who had fought for independence from Great Britain found themselves on opposite sides of a skirmish. Some were having their rights violated practically before the ink was dry on the Bill of Rights. Other Veterans of the Revolution were doing the oppressing at Alexander Hamilton’s behest.
The Whiskey Rebellion saw Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Global gold demand disappointed in Q3 2017 according to the World Gold Council’s latest Gold Demand Trends, but physical buyers bucked the trend with a solid increase in investment coin and bar purchases. At 915 tonnes, total demand fell 9% compared the same period last year, with particular weakness seen in Indian jewellery volumes. Stalling inflows into gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also negatively impacted Q3 figures, the report’s authors said. Reasons cited for slowing ETF deposiTuesday, November 14, 2017

JP Morgan, at least according to the daily Comex warehouse report,
added over half a million ozs of silver to its “historic” stash of
silver at the Comex:
TF Metals Report.
It would be even more interesting to see an actual independent
accounting of that specific metal which would track the serial numbers
on the bars to the legal owner of title.
I’ve been hedged in my mining stock portfolio since early September.
The signal for me to hedge is the reliable Comex bank “net short”
posiSaturday, November 11, 2017

If someone asked you to define “free market,” could you?Could you do it on the spot without recourse to dictionaries or other crutches?
There’s an old tale about the origin of the term “laissez-faire” that gets to my point. Here’s the write-up in Wikipedia:
The term laissez faire likely originated in a meeting that took place around 1681 between powerful French Comptroller-General of Finances Jean-Baptiste Colbert and a group of French businessmen headed by M. Le Gendre. When the eager merFriday, November 10, 2017

The synergistic relationship between gold and economic growth is quite healthy, and poised to become even more healthy in 2018 – 2019.
This is the fabulous South Korean stock market ETF chart.
Big name Western money managers are finally racing to move money into Asian markets, and this is great news for both gold and global stock markets.
For several years I’ve recommended that the gold community slightly reduce (but not drop) their focus on gold’s Western world fear trade and increase theiWednesday, November 8, 2017

Normally winter is a good time for gold, with men buying their
significant others jewelry for Christmas and lots of New Years Day
marriage proposals. Here’s an overview of the dynamic from
Adam Hamilton of Zeal Intelligence:
Seasonality is the tendency for prices to exhibit
recurring patterns at certain times during the calendar year. While
seasonality doesn’t drive price action, it quantifies annually-repeating
behavior driven by sentiment, technicals, and fundamentals. We humans
aMonday, November 6, 2017

The
gold miners’ stocks have largely ground sideways this year,
consolidating their massive 2016 gains. That lackluster trading
action, along with vexing underperformance relative to gold, has
left gold stocks deeply out of favor. But these uninspiring
technicals and resulting bearish sentiment should soon shift. The
gold stocks are just now entering their strongest seasonal rally of
the year, the super-bullish winter rally.
Gold-stock
performance is highlySaturday, November 4, 2017

I’ve suggested that investors may need to look beyond the Head & Shoulders Top formations that recently appeared on bullion and many precious metal stocks.
This is the daily gold chart. Intermediate uptrends often consist of three legs. In 2017, gold has had two legs up.
The next US jobs report is scheduled for release on Friday. Will it be the catalyst that launches a third leg higher for gold? I’m not sure, but I am sure of what’s important for gold, which is that it is generally very wellWednesday, November 1, 2017

GOLD PRICES failed to hold yesterday's rally on Friday in Asian and London trade, heading for the 5th weekly loss in 6 as world stock markets rose and India's key gold-buying festival season of Diwali ended.
Major government bond prices fell, pushing 10-year US Treasury yields up towards early October's 3-month highs at 2.36% after the
Senate voted yesterday to approve President Trump's push for major tax cuts.
Friday, October 20, 2017

Gold’s recent rally from the $1268 area lows has stalled, and the reasons for that are both fundamental and technical.
This is the daily gold chart. Gold fell about $100 from the $1362 area highs as seasonally soft Chinese buying was accompanied by a collapse in Indian demand.
That collapse was caused by the “Know Your Client” rule imposed by the government on gold jewellery purchases.
The price decline was exacerbated by the “Golden Week” holiday in China. Also, the Chinese government chopWednesday, October 18, 2017

As the world’s second largest consumer of gold, India can exert a significant influence on the precious metals market. Indian demand is particularly robust for one of the country’s key festivals, Diwali, which starts this week. Perhaps the most important and widely celebrated Hindu festival, Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness and honours Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. This year could prove to be a bumper one following a decision by the Indian government to excWednesday, October 18, 2017

GOLD PRICES extended their fall on Tuesday morning in London as the Dollar continued to rise amid speculation off potential new Fed chief and continuing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the Korean peninsula, writes Steffen Grosshauser at BullionVault.
Gold slid to $1288 after touching a 3-week high in the previous session before falling through the key level of $1300 per ounce.
Silver tracked gold and dropped to $17.08 per ounce after it had already started faTuesday, October 17, 2017

The truth, in regards to the world’s mineral resources, is that we in the western developed countries are usually not in control of supply.
“The spectre of resource insecurity has come back with a vengeance. The world is undergoing a period of intensified resource stress, driven in part by the scale and speed of demand growth from emerging economies and a decade of tight commodity markets. Poorly designed and short-sighted policies are also making things worse, not better. Whether or not resouTuesday, October 17, 2017

The traditional post jobs report rally for gold is in full swing. This is the daily gold chart. Gold arrived at a key Fibonacci line at about $1268 as the US jobs report was released.
The dollar has stalled against the yen, and that’s also good news for gold.
Gold tends to stage great rallies in the days following the jobs report, and this rally is a particularly interesting one. Here’s why:
First, Trump has ratcheted up his “hawk talk” in regards to North Korea and Iran. He’s scheduled toThursday, October 12, 2017

While there's no telling when exposure of Western central banking's longstanding scheme to suppress monetary metals prices will explode the scheme, word is getting around the world. This is signified by a long commentary published in this month's edition of an Indian magazine of politics and economics, Swarajya, written by Shanmuganathan Nagasundaram, founder of a financial consulting firm.
Nagasundaram's commentary, headlined "Gold Can Help India Set Global Agenda on Monetary Policy," cites theSaturday, October 7, 2017